>> Jen: Good morning faithful listeners. Welcome to the Bible Explained podcast. So excited that you chose to hop on this podcast and share a nice hot beverage with me. This morning we're going to be discussing First Kings. So for those of you who are members, I am very sorry I dropped the ball completely in November for the discussions episode and I want to apologize to you guys who are members because I usually do two episodes a month and I only got done with,
um, basically zero. I kind of did one at the beginning of the month, but then I didn't do any more of them, so I really, really apologize for that. And so I decided that for this month, to make up for last month, I will be doing four members exclusive episodes for December and hopefully you forgive me for, uh, dropping the ball in November after you guys have been so kindly supporting this ministry.
Let's go ahead and read 1st Kings 15 today, 1 through 10, we're going to talk about the entire life of Abijah or Abijam, and also his death and his son, King Asa as well. We'll also be talking about his mother, who potentially is also his wife. Let's get into it. This is 1 Kings 15:1 10. I'll be reading from the web now, in the 18th year of King Jeroboam, um, the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of
Abishalam. He walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him, and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his God, uh, as the heart of David his father. Nevertheless, for David's sake, Yahweh his God, uh, gave him a lamp in Jerusalem to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem. Because David did that which was right in Yahweh's eyes and didn't turn away from anything that he commanded him in all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life, the rest of the Acts of Abijam and all that he did. Aren't they written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. Abijam slept with his fathers and they buried him in David's city. And Asa, his son, reigned in his place. In the 20th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel,
Asa began to reign over Judah. He reigned 41 years in Jerusalem his mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalam. It's funny because in First Kings, Abijam or Abijah is kind of like an afterthought. They're just sort of like, okay, this king named Abijah lived and then he died. So we have to go to First Chronicles or, I'm sorry, Second Chronicles, Chapter 13, to get a little bit more information about who Abijah
was. And they call him Abijah in Second Chronicles, but in First Kings they call him Abijam, but it's the same man. So let's go over to 2nd Chronicles 13 and read verses 1 through 12 in order to get a little bit more of an understanding of who Abijah, uh, was. It says in the 18th year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and
Jeroboam. Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even 400,000 chosen men. And Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with 800,000 chosen men who were mighty men of valor. Abijah stood up on Mount Zamaram, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, hear me, Jeroboam and all of Israel. Ought you to know that Yahweh, the God, uh of Israel, gave the kingdom of Israel to David forever, even to him and his sons to
be a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nabat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his LORD. Worthless men were gathered to him, them wicked fellows who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam and the son of Solomon. When Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted and could not withstand them. Now you intend to withstand the kingdom of Yahweh in the hand of the
sons of David? You are a great multitude, and the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods are with you. Haven't you driven out the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves according to the ways of the people of other lands? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of those who are no gods. But as for us, Yahweh is our God, uh, and we
have not forsaken him. We have priests serving Yahweh, the sons of Aaron and the Levites in their work, and they burn to Yahweh every morning and every evening, burnt offerings and sweet incense. They also set the shew bread in order on the pier table and the lampstand of gold with its lamps to burn every evening. For we keep the instruction of Yahweh, our God, uh. But you have forsaken him.
Behold, God, uh is with us at our hand, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, don't fight against Yahweh, the God, uh of your fathers, for you will not prosper. And honestly, it's a really beautiful sermon that Abijah gave there. But unfortunately, in First Kings, chapter 15, it says that Abijah, his heart was not perfect with Yahweh. He followed in the sins of all of his fathers. So yeah, Abijah, he only reigned for three years in
Jerusalem. He could talk a good talk, but unfortunately he did not walk the walk that he talked about. So his reign was not blessed by Yahweh. However, in Second Chronicles, Chapter 13, what I just read, where Abijah gives this really long sermon. He's preaching to Jeroboam, the king of Israel, because Jeroboam and Israel are fighting
against Abijah and Judah. And Abijah is like, you know what, Jeroboam, you're not going to be successful here in this war or in this battle, because we down here in Judah, we follow Yahweh, and He's the true God, uh. And you know, you have your golden calves up there in Israel, so you can just depend on your golden calves and they're going to get you nowhere. Unfortunately, though, it's a good sermon. Abijah didn't actually follow after God, uh at all,
but he was successful in this battle. And it's actually just because of Yahweh's mercy, which is what First Kings 15 says. It says in verse 4, for the sake of David, Yahweh gave Abijah a lamp in Jerusalem to set up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem, because David did that which was right in Yahweh's eyes. So it had nothing really to do with Abijah that God, uh continued Abijah's line and allowed Abijah's son Asa to be the next king. It wasn't for
Abijah at all. It was actually for David. I've talked before about how even though David was dead, by every human measure, God, uh sees the reality of life after death. And God, uh knows that David is still alive. And God's promises are everlasting. If David were just dead in the ground, and that was all there was to David's life, and there was no afterlife, what would be the point of God, uh keeping his promise after David had
died? But yet, for David's sake, even though David was already dead, for David's sake, God, uh allowed Abijah's, uh, line, or David's great grandson, his line, to continue on because of God's mercy for the house of David. But Abijah only reigned for three years. He was successful in this one battle. He did do a very nice sermon, even though he didn't mean any of it himself. So, going back to 1 Kings 15, I really want to talk about Abijah's mother.
Okay. Because, uh, you might have noticed something while I was reading 1st Kings 15. Abijah's mother is named Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom. Abijah dies and his son takes over. Asa becomes the next king, and Asa's mother is named Maacah, the daughter of Abishalam, meaning that according to scripture, Abijah and Asa have the same mother. And it's very possible that they did.
Just knowing Israel's history and, uh, knowing the corruption of what was going on in Judah at the time, it's very possible that Abijah married his mother and she was one of the wives of Abijah. However, that might not be the case because we don't really know what was going on in the time period. Okay. It could be that Asa's real mother died, and Makah, who was Asa's grandma, took him in and became his
mother figure. And so she was just accredited as being Asa's mother, and she maintained that role of queen mother due to the fact that Asa's real mother had actually died. Now, I should mention that queen mother was a very prominent position. So it could also be that Maacah, who was the queen mother of Abijah, just maintained that position of power even after Asa became the king and forcibly maintained that position. And maybe even Abijah did something to make sure that his
mother would maintain that position. And so because of that, scripture, uh, accredits Maacah as being the mother of Asa, even though she was the grandmother of Asa. But it could also just be that she was, in fact, both the mother of Abijah and also the mother of Asa. And it's not outside the realm to think that might be the case, because what did we just talk about in First uh, Corinthians at the very beginning of the chapter I think it was first uh, 1 Corinthians 3 or 4. Paul was
appalled. Paul, appalled. He was appalled because he found out that the Corinthian Church was allowing one of their members, one of their church members to live in sin with his stepmother. So it was this incestuous, kind of weird relationship where a man had married his stepmother and they were living in this, like, sexual relationship together. And Paul was saying,
no, the Church can't act like that. And we know throughout history there has been weird things that have gone on, especially with monarchies and kings and political positions, positions and presidents. There's always something weird going on. So it's not outside the possibilities to think that Abijah married his mother and had a son with her, maybe even for the sole purpose of keeping her in a powerful position as queen mother. It's really disgusting. But that might actually be the case.
One last thing I want to say about Abijah before I end this episode is it mentions in 1 Kings 15 that his name is Abijam, but in 2 Chronicles, he's called Abijah. Like I mentioned before, now, Abijah or Abiyyah actually means Yahweh is my father. And honestly, at the beginning of his reign, he gives a really good speech. He started out as a good king, saying, Yahweh is my father. Us down here in Judah, we follow Yahweh.
But then in 1 Kings 15, towards the end of his life, he becomes Abijam or Abayim, which would have meant, yom is my father. And it turns out that Yom was actually a Mediterranean God, uh of the time period. Yom was apparently an enemy of the God, uh baal. He also ruled the seas, the rivers, the lakes, the underground springs, the wells. And so people would worship Yom for water, for rain, or for safe voyages at sea.
So because Abijah followed in all the sins of his fathers before him, he went from being a baija or a Bayah, meaning Yahweh is his God, uh, to a Bayam, meaning Yom is his father. So just kind of a sad state of events. And, yeah, Abijah was not the best king. And, uh, it's pretty clear that God, uh did not bless his reign because he was only alive. He was only king for three years. But Asa, on the other hand, Asa, his son, is a
completely different story. And already we can see that in verse 10, because Asa reigned for 41 years in Jerusalem, so he was a far different king. And we're going to learn about Asa and all of the good things that he did next Monday. But this episode was fun for me to talk about because I just love talking about history and researching history and just seeing who these kings really were. Because a lot of times we, you know, we read the Old Testament and we just gloss
over it. We think that, you know, these people weren't really human or didn't really have the same emotions or feelings that we did, but yet every single person in Scripture was human. The same way you and I are, had the same thoughts, struggles, emotions, issues, irritations, everything. So it's good to just delve in and really find out who each of these people really were and the things that they dealt with. And yeah, Abijah not a great guy,
but Asa will be. So I'm gonna look forward also to talking about King Asa and the good things that he did for Israel in his entire reign. But, faithful listeners, I hope to see you all tomorrow for an episode from First uh, Corinthians. Um, if you didn't catch yesterday's episode, I do highly recommend going back and listening to it, because we talked about the women's role in the church, and I think a lot of people have questions about
that. Not even just women, but even men have questions about what are women's roles in the church. So I talked about that yesterday. But, guys, make sure to join me tomorrow for an episode from First uh, Corinthians Tomorrow. Faithful listeners, I hope you have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your Wednesday. Happy listening, and God, uh bless.